RICHARD K. BLADES
Sky. Light. Landscapes made luminous.
TWIN SHARE From €4,087 per person
PRIVATE ROOM FROM €7,442
ONLY TEN PLACES AVAILABLE
A LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS IN OILS AND Gouache
THE SKY. MY MUSE.
Autumn | 18-24 September 2027
Richard K. Blades is an expressive landscape painter whose practice is rooted in light, atmosphere, and the vast open skies.
The sky, sea, and land are his muse. His paintings make you feel the weight of a cloud, the shift of afternoon light, the moment before a landscape changes.
Thousands have followed his work online. Taken his courses. Studied his palette. Ten painters will now spend a week painting alongside him in person, in Southwest France, en plein air and in the studio, in the exact quality of light that defines his practice.
This is his first in-person retreat in France. Exclusively at Chateau Charente. For ten painters only.
September in the Charente brings its own light. The heat softening. The skies deepening. The landscape shifting toward autumn. Long golden evenings, full gardens, and the kind of afternoon air that gets into everything you paint. It is exactly the kind of light Richard paints.
The week has a natural shape. Studio sessions and plein air work structured around the changing light. Time to paint, to look, to talk about painting. Evenings around the table. Everything designed so that real learning and real immersion can happen at the same time.
The Chateau provides the rest: a dedicated studio, seasonal French cuisine prepared by the resident chef, curated excursions into the Charente countryside, and morning wellness sessions. Everything is designed so that the only thing you need to think about is your painting.
ABOUT RICHARD K. BLADES
Richard K. Blades lives and works in Cromer, North Norfolk, where the vast open skies and coastal light of East Anglia have shaped everything he does.
He studied Fine Art at the University of Plymouth and has spent the years since building a practice entirely on his own terms - painting the landscape, teaching what he has learned, and founding The Point Contemporary, his own gallery on the Norfolk coast.
He is represented by galleries across the UK including Tarpey Gallery and Highgate Contemporary Art. His work is held in private collections worldwide.
His workshops sell out. His online courses have reached painters worldwide. Thousands follow his practice because what he does with light and atmosphere is difficult to look away from.
This is his first in-person retreat in France.
RICHARD K. BLADES MASTERCLASS HIGHLIGHTS
Engaging with the Landscape
The week begins not with a blank canvas but with looking. Richard leads the group into the château's grounds to find the source material. Preliminary sketches in charcoal. Learning to slow down and see before you respond. Everything that follows is built from this.
A Weeklong Masterclass in Landscape, Sky and Expressive Colour
Sky, Water & Land
Cloud painting. Open vistas. Reflections in the château's pond. Richard demonstrates his approach to atmospheric painting, working from observation and from intuition. You begin to understand how he reads a sky and what he decides to do with it.
Unlocking Colour
September in the Charente is a particular kind of light. The heat softening. The skies deepening. The landscape shifting toward autumn. Richard chose this season deliberately, and the masterclass is built around it. You will learn to bring both dramatic and nuanced light into your work.
Risk Taking, Mark Making
Risk-taking. Mark-making. The confidence to push forward into uncertainty. Richard will encourage you to expand your visual language and find the places where the known and unknown meet. This is where the best work tends to happen. A finished body of work, completed under his direct guidance, to take home.
Your Painting
Everything learned this week: mixing, tone, form, composition, brought to bear on a sustained, finished work. Sarah is close at hand. The studio is full of painters doing the best work of their week. This is what it was all for.
Please note that the masterclass workshop plans may change due to weather and lighting conditions.
No kit list.
No luggage anxiety. No compromise.
Everything you need is waiting for you. Professional-grade materials chosen specifically for this retreat by this artist. Easels for every format. Every supply at the quality level you'd choose yourself.
The materials are part of the experience. Everything chosen. Everything ready.
Nothing to source, pack, or carry through an airport. You arrive. You paint.
Materials Included
Morning Wellness
Begin the day with an optional Tai Chi session or gentle stretching in the gardens. Breathe in the crisp country air as the sun warms the chateau’s stone walls.
Gourmet Breakfast
Savour a beautifully prepared breakfast featuring eggs made to order, house-made granola, creamy chia pudding, seasonal fruit, artisan breads, and freshly-baked pastries, alongside cold-pressed juices and an elegant espresso and tea bar.
Intimate Masterclass with Master Artist
Picnic Lunch
Gather with fellow guests for a relaxed picnic-style lunch al fresco - or take a beautifully packed basket back to the studio to linger in the flow of your painting.
Evening Aperitifs
Gather as golden light falls across the gardens. Each evening features a signature cocktail inspired by the season, accompanied by elegant hors d’oeuvres.
Chef's Dinner with Wine Pairing
Dinner is candlelit and unhurried. Each evening, the menu travels to a different region of France - Burgundy, Alsace, the Basque Country, Provence - the food and wine chosen together to tell the story of a place. It is a way of seeing France without leaving the table.
The evenings are otherwise unstructured. The garden, the studio, early to bed, more time in the studio. Whatever the week needs.
WHAT TO EXPECT - A DAY ON RETREAT
Choose Your Afternoon
Immerse yourself in the rhythms of French life: meander through a local brocante or market, join our chef for a hands-on cooking workshop, relax in the chateau with a book, or continue painting at your own pace.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- 5 immersive half-day masterclasses with our master artist
- One-on-one guidance and group critiques
- Professional studio materials and plein air setup.
- 6 nights in refined accommodation
- Choose from deluxe suites with ensuites and sitting areas, suites with ensuites, or beautifully appointed rooms
- All include Parisian linens and the same unhurried care as the rest of the house.
- Seasonal breakfasts, picnic lunches, refreshments, snacks and 3-course dinners
- Evening aperitifs with a daily seasonal cocktail or mocktail
- Wine pairings with dinners.
- Curated excursions to brocantes, village markets, family-owned vineyards, and the storybook towns of the Charente
- Nature walks, wellness sessions, and painting en plein air
- All transport included.
- Easels & Tripods
- Paints (specific to the artist)
- Canvases / Boards
- Paintbrushes
- Everything you'll need, so you can just arrive and paint.
"The landscape is always there. The ever-changing muse. Always present, yet never the same.
I have wanted to share how I see it for a long time.
This masterclass will open up new possibilities in both seeing and interpreting the landscape.
I hope you can join me."
A PERSONAL NOTE FROM RICHARD K. BLADES
See more of Richard's work on Instagram
ABOUT CHATEAU CHARENTE
Why painters come here
Chateau Charente was built around one idea. That ten painters, one celebrated artist, and six nights of genuine individual attention is the combination that actually changes how you paint.
Not a large group with a demo at the front. An intimate week where the artist knows your name, your work, and exactly what you need to hear.
Southwest France, where the light changes with every season and rewards it every time. A studio stocked with professional materials. A garden, a brocante, and evenings that feel like they belong to another era.
Discover more
Exclusive pre-sale registration for waitlist members starts on Monday, April 27, at 12 noon ET.
Retreat places are limited and fill quickly.
